axicon We stayed in the 'apartment rooms' (listed as twin/double/family rooms) and were really pleased with this hostel. It's within walking distance of the main sights of Irkutskk, although not directly on any public transport routes. The staff were friendly and helpful (and spoke good English), and could give lots of suggestions regarding restaurants and things to see and do. Whilst you need to walk up a lot of stairs, the rooms are worth it with comfortable beds, private bathrooms and our room even had a kitchenette with a stove and oven. These rooms are good value, and as the room had a double bed plus a bunk bed they may also be a good option if you're travelling with friends or family. The downstairs dorm rooms and shared bathrooms are clean, and there's a kitchen and laundry downstairs for use by guests. I would definitely recommend this hostel to those travelling to Irkutsk.

CBurton This hostel was a very pleasant surprise indeed. My reason for staying there was unusual: I was in Irkutsk for work reasons rather than for tourism. Affordable hotels were all booked but I discovered the Trans-Sib fairly late - it was not advertised on many of the websites that I checked. This may be why it stil had a bed for me.
I stayed in the Trans-Sib for an unusally long time - nearly three weeks - and enjoyed every day of it. I had the separate room which I can recommned to anyone on a longer stay in Irkutsk.
Although I have rated "service" slightly lower than most of the other categories this is only because, understandably for a small hostel, it is not staffed full-time. Otherwise, the service was the most outstanding part of my stay there. All the staff there are very helpful and friendly and Anton in particular went out of his way with leads for my work. I plan to return to Irkutsk and I certainly want to stay here again.